BUREAU of Customs acting commissioner, Yogi Filemon Ruiz, instructed Intelligence Group officer-in-charge and BOC intelligence service director, Jeoffrey Tacio, to widen the probe on the discovery of a kilo of cocaine worth some P5.3 million found on board a foreign vessel bound for the Port of Batangas.
The cocaine, packed in brown paper and wrapped with packaging tape, was found at the engine compartment of a reefer container filled with agricultural products while the vessel, M/V Navios Tempo, of Liberian registration, was on transit from Singapore to Batangas on August 11, 2022.
The report by the ship’s captain said that a day earlier, they noticed that reefer container MNBU3577936, showed ‘in-range fault’ that prompted the ship’s crew to carry out reefer fault repair.
As the problem persisted, the captain ordered a more thorough inspection the next day where they found the suspicious package at the right section of the evaporator fan motor compartment.
The incident was immediately reported to the shipmaster and the discovered package was placed in a secured box for safekeeping in the vessel’s bond locker.
Thru the US’ Department of Homeland Security, the bureau’s anti-illegal drugs task force (CAIDTF) was alerted on the ship’s arrival in Batangas on August 13, 2022.
Tacio bared that on the instruction of Ruiz, the BOC and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), along with the Enforcement Security Service (ESS), immediately formed a boarding party to thoroughly inspect the vessel.
The package was also immediately tested by the PDEA and BOC which confirmed it to be cocaine.
Tacio reported they also inspected a total of 26 reefer vans on board the vessel but they all turned negative for more illegal drugs.
The name of the consignee was provided to Pinoy Exposé but customs officials requested that it not be named for the moment in order not to jeopardize the wider probe ordered by Ruiz.
The discovery of the cocaine came in the aftermath of the successful joint PDEA-BOC operation last August 12, 2022 in Pangasinan and La Union provinces that resulted to the recovery of 400 kilos of shabu worth P2.7 billion and the arrest of 6 suspects.
The operation was the first major drug bust under the Marcos administration.
Ex-BOC policeman under probe over busted 2019 drug shipment
Meanwhile, a former customs policeman who rose from the ranks and had held several sensitive positions in the agency is now under ‘silent probe’ by the bureau and the PDEA who are now looking into his actual involvement in the attempt to smuggle into the country some 276 kilos of shabu in 2019 worth some P1.8 billion, during the term of Comm. Rey Leonardo Guerrero.
A well-informed source told Pinoy Exposé that probers are now looking into the ‘lifestyle’ of the suspect who continues to flaunt his acquisition of high-priced vehicles and other material wealth thru the social media, even after his dismissal for cause by the Ombudsman.
The case involved the consignee, ‘Wealth Lotus Empire Corporation’ and its customs broker, Jane A. Castillo, who tried to bring in the illegal drugs declared as ‘plastic resin’ on board the M/V Callao Bridge from Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, thru the Manila International Container Port last March 22, 2019, then headed by district collector, Atty. Sandino ‘Dino’ Austria.
PDEA counterparts in Vietnam had earlier alerted the agency and the BOC on the actual content of the shipment.
The incident resulted to the dismissal by the Ombudsman of Special police assistant chief, Jaybee Raul Cometa.
At the time, Cometa was assigned at the Risk Management Office (RMO), which was tasked to ‘profile’ shipments as ‘low risk’ and ‘high risk.’
Cometa was faulted for not profiling the Wealth Lotus shipment as ‘high risk’ that nearly resulted to the shabu being released by the BOC as it would not be subjected to any actual inspection.